Current Members
 
Professor Stephanie MA
Dr. Ma obtained her B.Sc. (Cell Biology and Genetics) and M.Sc. (Experimental Medicine) degrees from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. She then graduated with a Ph.D. from The University of Hong Kong (HKU) with an outstanding ranking and was awarded the Li Ka Shing Prize for the Best Ph.D. Thesis of that year. Since then, she has been working at The University of Hong Kong where she is currently a Professor and Associate Director (Knowledge Exchange and Global) in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Assistant Dean (Innovation and Technology Transfer) at the Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine (HKUMed). Dr. Ma also currently serves as the Associate Director of the Knowledge Exchange Office at HKU as well as the Academic Lead of the Imaging and Flow Cytometry Core / Bioreagent Core / Bioresearch Support Core of the Centre for PanorOmic Sciences at HKUMed. She is also a Principal Investigator at the State Key Laboratory of Liver Research at HKU. Dr. Ma’s team is dedicated to better understanding how a more stemness and undifferentiated state in cancer can contribute to therapy resistance and tumor recurrence, making contributions towards a better comprehension of functional markers and properties that regulate cancer cell plasticity in gastrointestinal tumors, including hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer). In her field, she has been listed by Clarivate as a top 1% most-cited scholar (2010–2018) and by Stanford University as a top 2% scientist worldwide (2022, 2023). She is also the recipient of the 2008 Young Scientist Award in Life Sciences from the Hong Kong Institution of Science, the 2012-13 Outstanding Young Researcher Award from HKU, the 2014 Croucher Innovation Award, the 2014 Scientific Research Outstanding Achievement Award (Second-class Award in Science and Technology Section) from the Higher Education Institution of China, the 2017 University of British Columbia Alumni Builder Award (Canada), the 2018 Ton Duc Thang University Scientific Prize – Rising Star Award (Vietnam), the 2021 Research Grants Council (RGC) Research Fellow Scheme, the 2023 Croucher Senior Research Fellowship as well as the 2022-23 Outstanding Researcher Award from HKU. Dr. Ma is a Founding Member and current Vice-President and Co-chair (Outreach Committee) of the Hong Kong Young Academy of Sciences. She is also a member of the Future Forum Young Scientist Innovation Alliance in China and serves as a member of the Board of Directors at Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation, and the International Society of Differentiation. She is an Associate Editor of Experimental Cell Research and an Editorial Board Member of Hepatology, Carcinogenesis and Differentiation.

Dr. Kai Yu NG, Johnson – Senior Research Officer
Dr. Tin Lok WONG, Eric – Research Assistant Professor
Dr. Ianto Bosheng HUANG – Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Jia Jian LOH – Postdoctoral Fellow
Dr. Huajian YU – Postdoctoral Fellow
Ka Hei LAM, Sheree – PhD student (2021-2024)
Huanwen WU – PhD student (2021-2024)
Ut Kei LOU, Venus – PhD student (2021-2025)
Yinjia HUANG, Angel – HKU Presidential PhD student (2022-2026)
Jingyi YUAN – PhD student (2022-2026)
Sukbum KIM, Matt – MPhil student (2022-2024)
Jia Yan TAN – Co-supervised MPhil student (2022-2024)
Cheuk Chun HO, Joseph – Part-time MPhil student (2022-2025)
Yee Lok TSOI, Elok – HKPF PhD student (2023-2027)
Yalu CUI – PhD student (2023-2027)
Ruochen MA – PhD student (2023-2026)
Yanshu KONG, Angela – Research Assistant
Chun Yuen WONG, Don – Research Assistant
Juyu CHEN – Technical Officer


Lab Alumni
Dr. Kwan Ho TANG – Co-supervised PhD student (2008-2011)
Pak Shing KWAN – Research Assistant (2009-2013)
Yu Long GAO, Aaron – Research Assistant (2014-2015)
Tsun Ming FUNG, Kent – MPhil student (2012-2014)
Tsz Yan LUI, Daisy – BBMS FYP student (2015-2016)
Dr. Stella CHAI – UPF PhD student (2012-2015)
Chi Chung LAU, Marco – MPhil student (2014-2016)
Dr. Lok Hei CHAN, Jack – PhD student (2013-2016), Postdoctoral Fellow (2016-2017)
Dag WONG – BSc Biochem intern (2016-2017)
Chun Ho CHAN, Ben – BBMS FYP student (2016-2017)
Dr. Chi Han LI, Samson – Postdoctoral Fellow (2016-2017)
Tsz Wai LI, Natalie – MPhil student (2016-2018)
Tsz Lok FONG, Marco – BBMS FYP student (2018-2019)
Cheuk Yin LIN, Alan – BBMS FYP student (2018-2019)
Wan Foon KAU, Phillis – Senior Technical Officer (2013-2019)
Dr. Noelia CHE – PhD student (2016-2019)
Dr. Tin Chi LUK, Steve – UPF PhD student (2014-2018); Postdoctoral Fellow (2018-2019)
Cheuk LI, Terry – Research Assistant (2020)
Po Chit FUNG, Pucci – BBMS FYP student (2020-2021)
Jun Fung KAM, Max – MBBS Enrichment Year student (2020-2021)
Dr. Lei ZHOU, Lena – Postdoctoral Fellow (2015-2021)
Dr. Ho Chun LOONG, Jane – PhD student (2017-2021), Postdoctoral Fellow (2021)
Dr. Yanyan WANG – Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-2021)
Dr. Mingdan DENG, Sara – Postdoctoral Fellow (2020-2022)
Dr. Man TONG – PhD student (2010-2014), Postdoctoral Fellow (2014-2019), Research Assistant Professor (2019-2022)
Yunong XIE – Co-supervised MPhil student (2020-2022)
Hiu Yat YU, Justin – MRes(Med) (2021-2022)
Suo LING, Sarah – Research Assistant (2020-2022)
Dr. Yuan GAO – HK Scholars Program Postdoctoral Fellow (2021-2023)
Ka Yi LEUNG, Victoria – Research Assistant (2022-2023)
Lok Sze YEUNG, Phoebe – BBMS FYP student (2022-2023)
Yee Lok TSOI, Elok – BBMS FYP student (2022-2023)
Dr. Tsz Lam WONG, Matthew – PhD student (2018-2021); Postdoctoral Fellow (2021-2023)
Dr. Jia Jian LOH – PhD student (2019-2023)
Dr. Ki Fong MAN, Toni – PhD student (2020-2023); Senior Research Assistant (2023)
Dr. Huajian YU – PhD student (2020-2024)